White Blood Cell Winner: Systematic Immunity

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Way back on April 17, 2013, John gave Plasma Being developer Felix Wunderlich his Today’s Best Name award. Today, I’m putting him forward again for June 6th’s prize, but I’m also going to talk about his newly-released latest project – Systematic Immunity [official site]. Like its forerunner, it’s a quirky puzzle-platformer, however this one sees you take charge of a group of white blood cells who’re battling a “nasty bugger of a germ.” Trailers are the best cure for such an ailment, or so I’ve heard:

Across three different organs, Systematic Immunity tasks you with guiding 20 white blood cells around 75 different stages, wherein you’ll learn new skill in order to best more sophisticated challenges. For example, early on you discover how to regroup. You move your crew of cells simultaneously, you see, and, as each level requires you lead at least 15 cells successfully home, keeping a tight unit quickly becomes essential. A diminishing RG energy bar governs how often you can regroup in any given level, so you’ll want to do so with caution. Think the summoning mechanic in Loco Roco but with restrictions and you’re not a million miles off.

Later levels offer multiple completion routes, but there’s rarely an ‘easy’ path per se. Sometimes there’s obvious dangers, such as deadly germs, while challenge sometimes comes by way of negotiating tight spaces. Like this:

Run, jump, roll, float, bounce or teleport your way towards each stage’s end germ boss, then. “But remember,” warns Wunderlich. “Each white cell can only kill one germ. So watch out for casualties!” Seeking out secrets and scoring well in each level’s 5-tiered grading system unlocks things like new hats. During my brief playthrough earlier, I unlocked an Abe Lincoln-style top hat for my leading white blood cell. Lovely.

Systematic Immunity is out now for Windows on Steam for £4.99/6,99€/$6.99.